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Hadrian's Villa: A Roman Masterpiece |
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by somers / 10.04.2004 |
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Conclusion |
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Hadrian’s Villa had an enormous impact on the design of renaissance villas. During the renaissance, the villa as an architectural conception was revived. The only problem for the renaissance architects was that in their search for otium they did not have many examples of Roman villas. They were forced to draw on writings by Pliny the Younger, Cicero and Horace. The extraordinary influence exerted by Hadrian’s Villa on renaissance villa and landscape design derives from the fact that its owner and creator was known through these surviving writings.
Many prominent renaissance architects visited and sketched the Villa. Bramante and his design for the Belvedere Court is an obvious example. Known to have visited Hadrian’s Villa, he designed the magnificent Belvedere Court for Pope Julius II. The Belvedere court with its gardens, fountains, areas for spectacles, accommodations for the display of statuary, and long passages linking separate structures all remind one of a peaceful roman Villa. But more convincing still is Bramante’s interplay of straight and curved lines, a unique feature to Hadrian’s Villa but certainly not to renaissance architecture.
Another good example of Hadrian’s renaissance influence is Raphael’s design of Villa Madama. Set on the slope of Monte Mario, this villa enjoys a wide view of the Tiber valley. Raphael, like the Romans, worked with the land to produce a seamless intersection between nature and buildings. This villa had a circular colonnaded courtyard, entrance facing north with passages to a secret garden. Circular courtyards were unprecedented in fifteenth century architecture. What makes this courtyard even more unique is that it was colonnaded. Among the available ancient sources for these renaissance architects to draw from, there are two at Hadrian’s Villa: the Island Enclosure and the Circular hall.
Thus, because of the lack of written history and surviving roman villas, Hadrian’s villa became a key resource for renaissance architects. From the above examples and the many more, we can see that Hadrian had a disproportionate influence on renaissance architecture.
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